Name ___________________________________

Date _____________________

POETRY PRE-ASSESSMENT
Part A

Answer questions 1-2 in complete sentences.

1. How do you feel or what do you think about poetry? Explain. ___________________________
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2. How do you know whether a writing sample is poetry or prose? ____________________

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Answer questions #3-8 using the poem below, Feelings Alive by Carol Peck.

Feelings Alive
By Carol Peck

When Im happy, Im like a big red balloon,
When Im excited, Im like a rocket roaring to the moon
And I soar way up in the blue!
But when Im grumpy, Im like an old wrinkled prune
And when Im sad, Im like a flute with no tune;
Its okay to feel that way tooThese are all kinds of feeling in you!

When Im calm, Im like a peaceful sea,

When Im brave, Im like a big oak tree standing tall and true;
But when Im nervous, Im like a hopping flea
And when Im angry, Im like a stinging bee;
Its okay to feel that way tooThese are all kinds of feeling in you!

3. What repetition is created in this poem? ___________________________________________

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4. How many stanzas are there? _____________________________________________________
5. How many lines are there? _______________________________________________________
6. What is the rhyming pattern? _____________________________________________________
7. Is Im like a hopping flea, an example of a simile or a metaphor? Explain. ______________
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8. Name one example of imagery used in Feelings Alive. _____________________________________
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Answer questions 9-13 using the poem below, April Rain Song by Langston Hughes.


April Rain Song

By Langston Hughes



Let the rain kiss you

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops

Let the rain sing you a lullaby

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk

The rain makes running pools in the gutter

The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night

And I love the rain.

9. What repetition is created in this poem? ___________________________________________
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10. How many stanzas are there? ____________________________________________________
11. How many lines are there? _______________________________________________________
12. Is Let the rain sing you a lullaby, an example of a simile or a metaphor? Explain.
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13. What is the mood or tone of this poem? What clues are given to help you draw that
conclusion? ____________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name ___________________________________

Date _____________________

POETRY PRE-ASSESSMENT
Part B
CIRCLE the
words you
remember
hearing
before.
1.

Allusion

2.

Alliteration

3.

Assonance

4.

Consonance

5.

Hyperbole

6.

Idiom

7.

Imagery

For the terms you know well, do the following

DEFINE

AND

GIVE EXAMPLE

CIRCLE the
words you
remember
hearing
before.
8.

Onomatopoeia

9.

Oxymoron

10.

Paradox

11.

Personification

12.

Pun

13.

Symbolism

14.

Understatement

For the terms you know well, do the following

DEFINE

AND

GIVE EXAMPLE

Name ___________________________________

Date _____________________

POETRY PRE-ASSESSMENT
Part C

The Cow
by Robert Louis Stevenson

The friendly cow, all red and white,

I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;
And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.
1. Use u to mark unstressed syllables and / to mark stressed syllables in the stanza
below. Make these marks above the typed text.
EXAMPLE:

The friendly cow, all red and white,

u
/
Lets eat

I love with all my heart:

u
/
Lets sleep

She gives me cream with all her might,

To eat with apple tart.
2. In the stanza you just marked in #1, draw a to separate meters.
3. What word describes the metrical foot used in The Cow?
A. Anapestic

B. Dactylic

C. Iambic

D. Spondaic

E. Trochaic


Gerbil, Gerbil, On the Run [Excerpt]
By Kenn Nesbitt

Gerbil, gerbil, on the run

in your wheel, that looks like fun.
You must be in awesome shape.
Are you trying to escape?
Is that why you dug a hole?
Where'd you get that vaulting pole?
That looks like my grappling hook.
Give me back that rope you took.

4. Use u to mark unstressed syllables and / to mark stressed syllables in the stanza
below. Make these marks above the typed text.
EXAMPLE:

Gerbil, gerbil, on the run

u
/
Lets eat

in your wheel, that looks like fun.

u
/
Lets sleep

You must be in awesome shape.

Are you trying to escape?

5. In the stanza you just marked in #4, draw a to separate meters.

6. What word describes the metrical foot used in Gerbil, Gerbil, On the Run?
A. Anapestic

B. Dactylic

C. Iambic

D. Spondaic

E. Trochaic

Name ___________________________________

Date _____________________

POETRY PRE-ASSESSMENT
Part D
Read the poem. Then, identify the type of poem and explain why it is that type of
poem.

1.

Ross In The Sauce

By Mona Hodgson

There once was a pizza man, Ross

Who always gave dough a big toss.
He would fling it up high,
raise his hands to the sky,
then trip and plop into the sauce.

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

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2.

Tolerance
By Cate Sanazaro

Prejudice,
Small-minded, Hateful,
Disliking, Ignoring, Hurting
Ignorant, Resentful, Open-hearted, Worldly
Learning, Inviting, Loving,
Brilliant, Moral
Acceptance

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

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Read the poem. Then, identify the type of poem and explain why it is that type of
poem.
My Fathers Eyes

3.

By Sonia Sanchez

I have looked into

my fathers eyes and seen an
african sunset.

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

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Fog

4.

By Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

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Read the poem. Then, identify the type of poem and explain why it is that type of
poem.
Goose and Moose

5.

By Denise Rodgers

It's hard to tell just what a goose

will have in common with a moose.
Or better yet, just what three geese
will have in common with three meese.
(Is that the plural for a mouse?
Is grice the plural for three grouse?)
say this
once,



I'll
I'll say
this thrice,
the plural for a moose is mice,
plural for three mice is meeses.
or
I think that I may fall to pieces.
dizzy state increase



I feel my
about the mice, the grice and geese.

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

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The Flames of Autumn

6.

By Marian Swinger

Leaves flare,
orange, yellow
red. Trees blaze briefly and
gloriously before the long

A. Cinquain

D. Haiku

B. Couplet

E. Limerick

C. Diamonte

F. Free Verse

winter.

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OPTIONAL:
** Use the space below to add any knowledge do you have about poetry, not covered
in this pretest that you would like to share?


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